Marvel’s ‘Runaways’ recap: ‘Fifteen’

Sorry members of PRIDE, but none of you are winning parent of the year.

The fourth episode of Marvel’s Runaways is titled “Fifteen,” giving us some more character development with both the Runaways and the PRIDE (which is now the official way to spell it, I guess).

We open with a flashback with Nico, tragically discovering that her sister Amy is dead — which is the event that caused the Runaways to go their separate ways. Nico, who’s almost unrecognizable due to her lack of make-up, tries to call 911 but Tina comes in with her Staff of One and knocks her unconscious. Later, Nico looks inside her mother’s office to try and see what happened, which is when she sees a mysterious man and Tina covering up Amy’s death.

Present day. All of the Runaways are talking over video-chat, still trying to decipher what Destiny’s body turning up means and what they should do next. Nico, who has been reading her sister’s diary, has been reflecting and is upset — Amy was happy. There’s no way she would take her life. This has to be Tina.

The conversation ends with Chase telling them all “we need to protect ourselves. You can all believe in whatever fantasy you want, but I’m going to make damn sure they can’t hurt me. I suggest that you all do the same.” Alex, however, chooses not to heed the advice as he wants to keep investigating. He tries to enter his parent’s secret basement again, but finds that the secret entrance no longer works. In fact, it’s like the whole thing never existed. He does find his father’s gun, though, after searching his entire office.

Not great parenting on Geoffrey’s part, we’ll give you that. But honestly, he’s doing great compared to Victor. Chase’s father is seen driving a white van, with a woman — gagged and screaming — tied up in the back. Victor doesn’t seem to mind the noise though, he casually listens to the radio and goes about his drive.

Yup, this dude is insane. Dale and Stacey aren’t doing so hot either — they’ve realized the dinosaur has escaped and are desperately trying to figure out where it could have gone. They’re so concerned that they chose to ignore the PRIDE’s emergency meeting, something that Tina is not going to be pleased about.

It’s then that Victor arrives at the Wilder’s house, where Geoffrey and Robert are waiting. But Victor’s day is quickly ruined when he opens the back of the van to find that his victim isn’t there anymore. At some point, she escaped, and Victor is about to lose his mind over it.

At the PRIDE meeting, everyone is pretty upset. Not that Victor is clearly becoming more and more unstable, but because he messed up his one job. They send him off to find another victim, as Leslie says the old guy in the breathing mask is getting sicker and sicker. This time Victor doesn’t have to go alone, though. Tina sends Robert along with him, while she heads over to see why the Yorkes didn’t show up.

Back at high-school with the Runaways, Alex and Nico have been hanging out more and more. Nico wants to tell the police about Destiny and Amy, hoping it will put an end to this. Alex thinks this idea is the worst but agrees to go along with it so she doesn’t have to do it alone.

Then there’s more love triangle drama between Gert, Chase and Karolina. Gert approaches Chase to talk to him about the dinosaur, but they’re quickly interrupted by Chase’s former lacrosse buddies — the ones he rescued Karolina from the night of the party. They’re angry that Chase hit them, Chase is angry for what they tried to do and the whole thing amounts to a fight. Karolina runs in last minute, only to be told by some random cheerleader that this is all her fault.

However, this leads to the unlikely partnership of Gert and Karolina. Chase is now being lectured by his lacrosse coach, so the two of them head out to investigate the Church of Gibborim. They eventually find Leslie’s laptop, with a folder labeled “ULTRA.” They copy it on to a flash drive in hopes that Alex can decode it — which is right when Chase knocks on the front door. He wants to talk to Karolina about what happened, more or less kicking Gert out of the house in the process.

All of this isn’t to overlook Leslie and her day, however, because she’s having quite the interesting one. The old crusty guy really isn’t doing so hot, so to cheer him up, Leslie strips down and has sex with him. Because that’s just normal, I guess. As she’s leaving, her real husband Frank is waiting for her, but Leslie quickly quiets down his questions by telling him that he’s ready to go Ultra.

Meanwhile, Victor and Robert are looking for their next victim. Their choice? Some random homeless guy. He’s a lot less willing than they thought he would be, however, and starts to make a commotion when they try to put him in their truck. That’s when they’re interrupted by a police siren, meaning the two of them are in real trouble now.

They’re brought to the police office — where they run into Alex and Nico, reporting the murders. Before the parents see them, Nico recognizes the detective they’re with as the one who was with her mother in the flashback, and the two quickly decide to bail on the whole idea.

At least Chase and Karolina can share a nice moment, as the two of them talk about what happened that night at the party. Chase reassures her nothing happened, and Karolina then shows him her glowing powers.

Before heading to the Yorkes’ residence, Tina meets with a mysterious figure named Kincaid. He’s been spying on Dale and Stacey, telling Tina that they look like nice people. Tina doesn’t buy it though and gets ready to do business.

But Dale and Stacey still haven’t found the dinosaur. They’ve been looking all day, knowing they’re in trouble with PRIDE. That’s when they come up with an easy solution — take the girls and run away.

Yet, their problems may just be solved. The dinosaur has returned home, interrupting Molly while she’s in the middle of writing a list of questions that she has for Catherine about her parents. It’s not a happy reunion, however, as the dinosaur tries to attack her. Molly’s super-strength kicks in as the two start brawling, only to be interrupted by Gert.

That’s when the big reveal comes — Gert can control the dinosaur by verbal command. And it’s right at the moment when she’s realizing this that Dale and Stacey walk back into the house, astonished by what they see.

They don’t have time to explain, though, as it’s then Tina knocks on the front door. She quickly puts the couple into their place, saying she already knows about the plan their plan to run away and that there’s much PRIDE work still to be done.

Back at Victor’s residence, Chase is in the laboratory working on a project when his father walks in. Victor clearly isn’t doing well, but — much to Chase’s surprise — he’s interested in what his son is building. Victor asks him to show him, saying he’ll help work on this thing called a “fistigon.”

And finally, our stinger. Alex and Nico work to decode the ULTRA file, discovering that Leslie has been recruiting teens for PRIDE. Nico steps out for a second to make a phone call, leaving Alex alone. That’s when Alex is grabbed and placed in a black SUV that goes peeling away.

Once again, this episode of Runaways deepens the mystery and has us dying to know what happens next. No one has run away yet, which some critics are complaining about, but the fact that we’re still so hooked by the show definitely says something.

Check out the new episode of Runaways on Hulu today, let us know what you thought about this episode in the comments below and don’t forget to read some of our other recaps too!